Poway water theft case in hands of D.A.

Photo taken by a Poway employee showing a San Pasqual Fire Department water tender filling up from a fire hydrant along Valleyview Road in Poway. The department was issued a $1,000 fine for water taken without payment. Source: City of Poway

Photo taken by a Poway employee showing a San Pasqual Fire Department water tender filling up from a fire hydrant along Valleyview Road in Poway. The department was issued a $1,000 fine for water taken without payment. Source: City of Poway

On four separate occasions — and during multiple trips each time — volunteer firefighters drew water without permission from the hydrant and then deposited it in storage tanks owned by a friend of a San Pasqual board member, said Poway City Manager Dan Singer.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has completed an investigation into the alleged water theft and has forwarded a misdemeanor case to the District Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution. The case is currently under review, a District Attorney spokeswoman said.

Singer said on four separate days, San Pasqual’s water tender filled up at the city’s hydrant on Valleyview Road, then drove a short distance up a hill and deposited the water into storage tanks on private property where the homeowner’s well had gone dry. Further, Singer said, it appears the tender — which can hold about 2,500 gallons of water — made several trips each time, until the tanks were filled.

San Pasqual Chief Chris Kisslinger confirmed that the department’s internal investigation found there were four separate incidents, not just one as he had originally thought.

He said the department thought that the well owner, Tom Carter, had a permit from the city allowing him to take water from the hydrant, but in fact he did not.

Singer said Carter’s two storage tanks hold 10,000 gallons of water combined.

“It sounds like they (San Pasqual fire employees) would show up with water and deliver it to him, then go down the block to our hydrant and fill up and turn around and deliver it, and go back down to the hydrant and fill up and turn around and deliver it and probably go back a third time,” Singer said.

Kisslinger said Carter had asked Charles Dilts, vice president of the fire department’s board of directors, for help with his water problem and Dilts asked the department to help Carter out.

On July 28, the latest of the tender’s visit to the hydrant was witnessed by a Poway Public Works employee who took photographic evidence. A short time later the city fined the San Pasqual fire department $1,000 for the theft of the water. Dilts paid the fine the next day.

In an August interview with U-T San Diego, Kisslinger defended the fire department’s actions, saying he thought Carter had permission to tap into the hydrant and that the deliveries were used as a training tool to show rookie firefighters how a water tender drives differently when it is full and when it is empty.

He said if firefighters knew they were doing anything wrong they certainly wouldn’t have taken the water in broad daylight.

The sheriff’s department declined to comment on its investigation Tuesday and it’s unclear who might be charged in the case, if anyone.

“I hope it’s not me,” Kisslinger said.

Dilts has not returned numerous phone calls seeking comment over the past month and Carter has been unavailable for comment.

Singer said it’s doubtful the city will fine the department for the additional incidents, but it’s possible Poway may charge for the total amount of water taken, which would equate to about $200.